In a day of rapid developments in the UK and Spain, the CPS announced it was withdrawing the warrant for the couple after a tidal wave of protest.

A spokesman said: “No further action will be taken against Mr and Mrs King and we are now in the process of communicating this decision to the Spanish authorities so that they can be reunited with their son as soon as possible.”

The family, from Hampshire, took Ashya from his hospital bed and travelled to Spain last Thursday to seek proton beam therapy for his aggressive tumour after disagreeing with UK doctors over his treatment.

Today Portsmouth City Council also condemned the family’s separation but stopped short of saying sorry for making Ashya a ward of court following an application last Friday.

Council leader Donna Jones said: “Like others who have been watching this upsetting case unfold, I have been moved by the plight of the King family and am most concerned about Ashya. I believe what he needs now is to be with his family.”

As a result of Portsmouth council’s legal action, the couple still face a tough High Court battle to get their child the innovative treatment medics at Southampton Hospital in Hampshire had refused to support.

They have just a few days to put together a treatment plan for Ashya and convince a top judge he should support sending the him for proton beam therapy – which is only available abroad.

The couple must raise £65,000 to pay for the treatment themselves, as the NHS still refuses to fund it.

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Malaga: Regional University Hospital where Ashya was placed following parents' arrest

Ashya’s situation was discussed by lawyers from Southampton Hospital, the CPS and Portsmouth City Council at London’s High Court today, where Mr Justice Baker criticised the family’s treatment.

The judge said: “I am very concerned that this little boy aged five has been separated from his parents. Whatever the rights and wrongs of what his parents did, the fact is he is not seeing his parents and he is very seriously ill.”

Mr Justice Baker delayed proceedings until Monday, when he asked for the Kings to appear via video link to plead their case.

Lawyers for Southampton Hospital indicated treatment at a specialist clinic in Prague would not be opposed by medics – despite what Mr King claims to have earlier been told.

He said in a YouTube blog uploaded on Saturday that doctors threatened to make an emergency protection order for Ashya if the parents opposed standard radiotherapy.

However today it was revealed doctors at the Proton Therapy Clinic in the Czech Republic have been discussing Ashya’s potential treatment with Southampton doctors.

“It allows clinicians to destroy only what they need to and it is safer and gentler than conventional radiotherapy. “It is targeted treatment so it doesn’t irradiate critical organs and tissues that don’t need it.

“It is undoubtedly the treatment of the future and for many tumours like this it is the treatment of today.”

Taken: Brett and Naghemeh King disagreed with Southampton Hospital doctors over Ashya's treatment

A spokesman for University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust said: “We were willing to support the family’s transfer to Prague for proton beam radiotherapy, although we did not recommend it.

“The Proton Therapy Centre was in touch again yesterday afternoon to enquire about Ashya’s potential future care and confirm they would be keen to treat him if he is suitable according to the relevant criteria.

“We have of course been open to discussing this. However, since Ashya is a ward of court, at this stage it is for a judge to make all future decisions regarding his treatment.”

Until the weekend, Ashya’s parents had never left his side since his grim diagnosis in July.

However the boy had been alone in Malaga’s Materno Infantil hospital for three days until his brother Danny – one of his six siblings – was finally allowed in to visit under police supervision today.

Danny, 23, said: “He is exactly how he came in which is perfectly healthy, he is doing really well. I am spending as much time as possible at his bedside and making sure he gets the best possible treatment.”

He added: “We want to thank everyone for their incredible support. It means a lot.”

Ashya’s gran, Patricia King, 77 said at her home in Portsmouth: “I’m just desperate to see pictures of them all around his bed hugging little Ashya.

“The thing that is so awful is they have been through all this for no reason whatsoever. Lessons must be learnt.”

More than 150,000 people had signed a petition, presented at No 10 today, calling for the couple to be freed.

Ethan Dallas, 16, a family friend who set up the petition, said the case had “touched the heart of nations”.

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt today announced a specialist oncologist would be sent to Spain to assist the family.

Mr Hunt said: “I think it has been a very unfortunate sequence of events and there have clearly been misunderstandings along the way.”

Prime Minister David Cameron said: “I welcome the prosecution against Ashya King’s parents being dropped. It’s important this little boy gets treatment and the love of his family.”

A spokesman for University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust said tonight: “We are pleased that Ashya’s parents will be released and will be able to see their son.

“When Ashya went missing last week we had no option but to call the police because we did not know where he was or what his parents’ intentions were.

“The police asked us to make statements about his clinical condition and need of medical care and we stand by the accuracy of the information we gave them.

“No hospital should be deterred from raising the alarm when they have doubts about the safety of a child.”

“Ashya King had major surgery to remove a brain tumour five weeks ago, and a further operation on his brain on August 22.

"As a result of these procedures he was extremely ill and has been unable to speak and unable to eat or drink on his own.

“The evidence was that he required round the clock nursing care to manage his recovery, including to manage the feeding tube which was keeping him alive and hydrated.

"This feeding tube can easily become dislodged and, if not handled correctly, can cause a serious risk to health.

“It was evident that Mr and Mrs King had not had the necessary training to remove it and reinsert it if it had become dislodged.

"If this happens, the food can enter the lungs which can be fatal. The evidence was that the King family also did not have any of the specialist nutrition that Ashya needed and that the feeding tube required charge from a battery which was running out and for which the parents had not taken the power supply.

"There was a reasonable suspicion that Ashya’s health and safety were likely to be seriously harmed if he was not returned to medical care urgently.

“The information was from medical professionals who were extremely worried that a child was in real danger and that, as a result of being removed from Southampton General Hospital and taken abroad without a medical plan for treatment and care, this seriously ill little boy would not get the care that he desperately needed.

"Therefore the CPS was asked to consider if there was a reasonable suspicion that Mr and Mrs King had committed an offence of child cruelty through wilful neglect."

He continued: “Today has shown that Mr and Mrs King did take certain steps to safeguard the health of Ashya, for example it appears they had ordered specialist foods to care for Ashya, and had managed to charge the food pump using their car battery.

"Also, evidence from two independent medical experts indicated that the risk to Ashya’s life was not as great or immediate as had been originally thought.

"Accordingly the necessary element of wilful neglect to support a charge of child cruelty could not be proved to the required standard.

“Some of this evidence was received by the CPS today, and we have acted as quickly as we could to take the necessary steps to release Mr and Mrs King from custody as soon as possible.

"We continue to work with the UK courts and Spanish authorities to progress matters as quickly as possible.”

A spokesman said that the CPS had arranged with Southampton Magistrates Court for proceedings to be dropped and the EAWs discharged.

The court had confirmed that those orders had been processed and the CPS was communicating this to the Spanish authorities.

The timing and next steps would then be a matter for the Spanish court but the CPS expected the extradition proceedings to be discharged and Mr and Mrs King to be released from custody, though this might involve a further hearing in Spain.